You may (or may not) have noticed that posting has slowed a little here at SU. It’s fair to say that it’s been a tough couple of days.
That hasn’t been helped by various things that have annoyed the living daylights out of me, like the Castriota appointment (which I’d normally applaud quite loudly if the circumstances weren’t such as they are), quotes in this article about that appointment and the growing number of people commenting here who expect a newly independent Saab to fall over and die if they don’t build the exact specification of car that they desire.
Yes, there are certain sections of the market that would benefit (even flourish) with certain model offerings, but I can assure you with 100% certainty that Saab are doing everything they can to build the best cars they can and sell them wherever legally and logistically possible.
To those people, I would suggest that you get your eye back on the ball – Saab’s mission right now is not to design, build and sell for niches and vocal minorities. It’s to design, build and sell for the biggest possible group that it can, with restricted resources and flexibility imposed on them by their former owners. The fancy stuff can come later when they get cash-positive and stable. If you don’t agree with or understand that, please don’t spend your precious time yelling it louder still in comments. Just go.
I’ll keep this short and controlled and take a proper break for a few days. Be good to yourselves and to one another and I’ll catch you again over the weekend.
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UPDATE: A friend of mine from Trollhattan – doesn’t work for Saab but a related entity – summed it up better than I could and with an authority that comes from being in the midst of things:
People need to get their asses out of the couch and embrace what’s being offered or there wont be any Saabs built as they want them….ever again. Sure you can dream about new products but dont talk down the one thats being offered becuase that will achieve absolutely nothing.
The average guy not involved in the auto industry just doesn’t have A
CLUE as to how much testing, retesting, problemsolving and further retesting there is – and then all the legal approvals are needed to put another engine and gearbox combination on the market…. (just as an example) Just changing something seemingly simple like dashboard trim could require new head impact tests etc….it’s not as easy as making a new part and then just throwing it out there on the market. Now, time for some midsummer joy here…
Hear, hear.